Insurrection
The invasion of the United States Congress
What happened in D.C. yesterday was an avoidable disaster. The President of the United States incited an insurrection in a desperate attempt to disrupt the legislative duties of the Congress of the United States of America. Hundreds of thousands of people were called to the nation’s capital because of a lie planted in their heads at least eight months earlier. They came to Washington because they were told that the only legitimate election was one where Donald Trump was the victor. All other results were invalid.
150,000 people stood in the shadow of the White House to listen to the President’s sons and Members of Congress incite more hatred towards the legitimate result of the election. At least one Congresswoman invoked Hitler to say that, “he was right on one thing”. It was about propaganda, not the wholesale slaughter of his political opponents both Jewish and otherwise.
Then the President of the United States took to the podium for an hour. Inciting more hatred and anger from the crowd and turning that anger towards the Vice-President, Congress and anyone who disputed his bogus claims. He said he would join them as they MARCHED ON THE CONGRESS to “cheer on” those legislators who wanted to install this authoritarian because, as he said, "you'll never take back our country with weakness; you have to show strength".
They marched, without Trump, towards the Capitol building and were seeming let closer and closer towards the heart of American democracy. As they took over the steps of Congress, Trump loyalists proudly objected to the electoral count of the state of Arizona. Republicans cheered as the joint session was halted for two hours of pointless debate to further peddle Trump's lies.
In the middle of Arizona representative Paul Gossar's ovation to Trump’s bruised ego, the session was halted because those 150,000 people had invaded the United States Congress. Swift-minded staffers grabbed the official electoral counts before escaping to whatever safety they could find. Members of Congress were calling loved ones to tell them where they could find their wills if they did not make it out alive.
The insurrectionists breached the doors of Congress. The Capitol police seemed understaffed and overwhelmed. A gallows was erected outside and men with hand restraints were combing through the legislative chambers. One person, who was trying to break her way into the inner sanctum of the Congress was shot and killed by Capitol police. The insurrectionists looted the Congress and stopped the ceremonial procedure of the congressional counting of electoral college ballots.
Eventually, the insurrectionists walked out of the Capitol jubilant at their achievement. They had paid homage to Donald Trump while terrorizing those who opposed the Dear Leader. Those who invaded and stole from the legislature were just allowed to leave. Dispersed into the night to get a beer surely encouraged by his sacred message.
Congress reconvened later that night and, unsurprisingly, some Republicans withdrew their bogus challenge. At least one person had died for their lies but, not every Republican stopped the assault on democracy. Legislators such as Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri and Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, among others, maintained their baseless attack on our democratic system. In the early hours of the morning, their fruitless efforts to overturn the election had ended but the damage was done. Four dead all for the ego of the man who sought to be America’s first dictator.
I don’t want people to go back to normal. This is not an aberration. The Michigan statehouse was invaded last year by these same people. They plotted to kidnap, try and execute the Governor of Michigan. The insignia and badges of the Proud Boys and Oathkeepers were all over the insurrectionists yesterday. They and their ilk are our American ISIS.
They are an authoritarian force who seek to overthrow American democracy to install a dictatorship that only answers to them. For now, they support parts of the Republican party because it is the adopted party of Donald Trump. In reality, they support Trump because Trump supports them and they survive because the Republican party does their best to hide their actions behind “conservative values”. They are THE American terrorist group hell-bent on overthrowing any government they have not anointed. No American or political party should ever support them.
Even now, conservatives are trying to dissuade the world from pointing the finger at them. They are, once again, trying to blame “ANTIFA”, their go-to phrase when right-wingers go mad. We cannot allow this “good people on both sides” idea to fester. As with school shootings, conservatives seek to divert and distract from the enemy within.
Writing this all down is my way of coping with the direct attack on my democracy but I think I’ll close with this.
Yesterday morning a woman woke up, travelled to a Trump rally where he told her that his election was stolen. Inspired by his words she stormed the United States Capitol building where she was shot in the chest and killed. I don’t know who she was but something inspired her to storm the legislature of the United States of America to overturn a fair and free election. Who knows what was going through her mind at the end but, the unhinged ramblings of this Rittenhouse-aged boy, who was right next to her, may give some insight into the lies that led to her death inside the halls United States Congress.
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